The Lifeboat

by Charlotte Rogan

A moral dilemma: how far would you go to ensure your survival on a leaking overcrowded lifeboat? It’s 1914 and a young newlywed stands trial after surviving the explosion of an ocean liner and three weeks lost at sea. Not a summer cruise read for those who suffer sea sickness.

Extract

I will confess that it crossed my mind how easy it would have been to rise to my feet and, in the act of trying to restrain her, fall against her and knock her out of the boat. She was sitting right next to the rail, and it was clear to me that we would be far better off without her and her histrionics. I hasten to add that I did nothing of the sort and only mention it to illustrate how the bounds of a person’s thinking quickly expand in such a situation and how part of me could understand the train of thought that had led Mr Hoffman to suggest a way to lighten the load and also how such a suggestion, once made, was difficult to forget.